S01 E06 - The Mottled Fur of Rage Part 2

Synopsis
The Dames get knee-deep in their tree-top cage match hoping to bring some kiddos home safe. The fate of their rumored detective agency depends on it!

Heads Will Gnoll
The episode starts with the Dames in the heat of combat with a gnoll hunter as they attempt to save Winter Hallwinter and her friends. Rose Lao pushes a flesh gnawer off a platform as Nevar Moor tries to make equally effective attacks without luck. Riot Bonezerker also pushes one off the platform as Rose saves Ned, one of the children, from a cage. The trees help Ned down to where one of the other children, Grace, is.

The flesh gnawer snarls from below and Nevar is reminded once again of the sounds she heard in the dream she had. Riot sweeps one off their feet and Nevar finally lands a powerful hit with witch bolt, sending a bolt of crackling blue energy at a witherling, taking it out. Riot then swoops in and picks up the final witherling and drops it in mid-air, letting it plummet to the ground.

With all but the flesh gnawer taken care of, the Dames save Sasha and Winter Hallwinter from their bone cages, letting the trees help bring them to safety on the ground. Rose asks the trees if they know of Tinus Redbud and they seemingly give an affirmative "thumbs up."

A sack is launched towards the Dames from within the woods that contains bolts of cloth, some coins, a golden ring, and 25 gold pieces. It appears to be random loot the gnolls had been scavenging.

Running into Bud
As they turn to leave the forest, Nevar asks the children how they ended up in the Crooked Forest and one of them responds that they wanted to run off and be adventurers like the others coming through town with Volo's Guide to Monsters. After not hearing from them, Winter Hallwinter decided to go in after her friends.

Rose is holding the bloodied ribbon they found and Nevar remembers again the dream she had where she woke up holding the feather with a black ribbon tied around it. She recalls all the similarities of the dream and the situation they just experienced. While mentioning this, the Dames realize that the forest has changed the path again.

The forest opens up to a clearing and Bud is there. Riot asks Bud if there are any branches around that may have fallen off a treant that she could use to create a new bow. Bud mentions there may be some blueleaf from Tavernière, a guardian that had fallen a long time ago. Blue leaf is rumored to be able to be magically treated so it's as hard as steel but half the weight. Bud gives Riot some instructions on harvesting the wood.

Three Roses in a Sunny Forest Grove
While Riot talks with Bud, Nevar and Rose try to calm the children. Nevar commends Winter on her quick-thinking of leaving her ribbons in a path so they could be found. Winter expresses her wanting to be a brave adventurer like her father and Nevar reminds her that it's okay to just take some time to be a kid. Rose shares how she uses her fears to help fuel herself without letting it overtake her. Nevar has a nice moment with Winter where they make bracelets with some grass and nearby flowers; it helps Winter take her mind off her fears. Nevar gives Winter a flower crown and Winter gives her a friendship bracelet in return.

Rose suggests they all try meditating in a nearby sunny patch to help relieve some of their fears. Grace doesn't take to the meditation right away so Rose walks her through some guided breathing and meditation exercises and that seems to work. She has them think of a flower that is growing from the ground up to the sky; a flower that they can think of whenever they are stressed or scared as the flower will not be able to grow without them. Each of the children divulge that the flower they're thinking of is a rose.

With everyone's emotions calmed, the group heads back to Phandalin. Rose hands Winter her backpack so it looks like the children were just on a camping trip (but no one is there to notice the children come home except Sildar Hallwinter).

PCs

 * Nevar Moor played by Essie Hollman
 * Riot Bonezerker played by Jen Vaughn
 * Rose Lao played by Meris Mullaley

NPCs

 * Grace, Dwarf
 * Ned, Dwarf
 * Sasha, Dwarf
 * Sildar Hallwinter played by Brittni Liyanage
 * Tinus Redbud
 * Winter Hallwinter

Visited

 * Crooked Forest
 * Gnoll Encampment
 * Tinus Redbud's Grove
 * Phandalin

Quotes

 * "You definitely sweep it off its feet." - Kat Kruger; "I call it the Sildar Special" - Riot Bonezerker (19:19)
 * "It's a bit shaken - it's mother-in-law just called" - Riot Bonezerker (20:03)
 * "I want you to picture a flower that starts growing from a little patch of dirt in the ground and keeps growing up to the sky. And that way if your mind starts to wander and you start to think about anything else–whether it's your school classwork or something you saw in the forest–just bring your mind back to that flower because it's not going to be able to grow to the sky without you. And keep breathing." - Rose Lao (49:05)

Trivia

 * The name Tavernière originates from the original name of the Hope Diamond, which was Tavernier Blue.
 * The end of this episode was re-cut so Rose could meditate with the kids. Kat Kruger sees that as one of the important storytelling moments of the podcast.